Lightweight fan favorite Dan Hooker has put the UFC on blast after being denied tickets to attend UFC 317 in Las Vegas last month.
Hooker, who sits on a three-fight win streak but has not competed since August of last year (a planned bout with Justin Gaethje in March fell through when Hooker injured his hand), puts it down to a lack of respect.
Speaking to Submission Radio recently, “The Hangman” revealed that though he hoped to attend teammate Kai Kara-France’s title bid against flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja, his tickets were cancelled after he failed to meet an obligation with the promotion that was thoughtlessly booked at 3AM local time in his native New Zealand.
“The UFC booked me for some sh*t— which is three in the morning New Zealand time,” Hooker stated. “I didn’t even go out. I had an early night, but I’m not getting out of bed at three in the morning to do just about anything. I slept in, and I didn’t go to the UFC thing.” As a result, revealed Hooker, “They canceled my tickets to Kai’s fight and then so it’s like, I’m going to rush back and fight injured for a company that’s going to cancel my tickets to the event when I’ve traveled all the way to Las Vegas? I would have fought injured, but then someone at a desk has crossed my name off a list.”
“You work in the office, brother, I work in the— you think there would be a bit more respect there for guys who literally give their life. The amount of blood, sweat, and tears I’ve poured into putting shows on for that company, I thought there would have been a bit more respect there. But there’s not, which is cool, business is business. We can fight on my terms then.”
Later, Hooker said simply that “I’m not going to break my back for a company that doesn’t respect me.”
Hooker would also go on to question the UFC’s pay scale for main event, five-round fights. Traditionally, fighters have seen a small bump in pay for the extra ten minutes. Whether his distaste for the promotion’s lack of respect has coloured his sentiments here, it’s clear Hooker feels fighters are being cheated.
“Twenty grand for an extra ten minutes is the going rate,” Hooker noted. “I’m a logical thinker. In what world do I get a half a million dollars for 15 minutes and then I get half a million dollars and 20 grand for half an hour?”
“When I used to work at the bloody kitchen factory, do you think I did an eight-hour day and got paid a couple of hundred bucks and then I’m going to do twice as much work and get a fraction more money? It just doesn’t make sense to me,” continued Hooker. “‘Oh, but, you know, for the experience.’ Shove it up your f*cking ass, bro, I’m not going to work. I’m not going to work for twice as long. If you want me to go to work for twice as long, pay me twice as much, that’s how that works.”
Hooker might have a point, if you look at the extra rounds as overtime of sorts. Still, UFC fighters are independent contractors, and we all know how that story goes.
